Posts from Asian

One of my favorite soups is hot and sour soup, and I was flabbergasted to discover that it's really quite easy — and cheap! — to make. Who woulda thunk it? Called suan la t'ang in Chinese, it gets its tang from the addition of white vinegar.

Say hello to your newest cold-weather best friend! Miso soup is that salty, savory broth, dotted with green scallions and silky tofu, served at most Japanese restaurants before the sushi trays arrive. Making it at home is one of the simplest and most satisfying ways to treat yourself during the frigid winter months. Here's how to make miso soup in just a few easy steps.

Dashi is an incredibly simple broth, and it forms one of the culinary cornerstones of Japanese cooking. It's made in about 10 minutes with just three ingredients: water, kombu (dried kelp), and bonito fish flakes. The resulting clear broth tastes like the essence of the sea.

Dashi can be used to make a fantastic bowl of miso soup, to poach fish or vegetables, or to add savory umami flavor to any number of Japanese dishes. Here's how you can make it at home.

There are the nights when it's best to stick with the tried-and-true recipes we've been cooking for years. Then there are the nights when we have time to move out of our comfort zones and challenge ourselves with cooking new recipes from new-to-us cuisines.

Asia was a source of particularly frequent inspiration to us and our recipe writers this year, from India and the south of Asia to China and Thailand. Add something new to your dinner line-up with one of these 19 Asian recipes we learned this year.

If you look at many Japanese recipes, as well as other Asian-inspired dishes, especially teriyaki and stir-fries, you'll find a common ingredient among them — mirin. Even if you've never cooked with mirin, you've likely tasted it before.

But what exactly is mirin? How do you cook with it? And most importantly, what does it taste like?

It's hard to imagine any condiment shelf without a bottle of soy sauce — this intense sauce gives instant rich flavor to stir-fries, enhances sushi, and can add a quick punch of flavor to sauces and soups.

But there are so many types of soy sauce out there it can be a bit confusing. Here's our guide to the most common types of soy sauce and other sauces that are in the same family!

I’ve done my share of apartment hunting in North Carolina. I know how to avoid the big complexes with the bad reviews and click-baiting ads, screen out the euphemisms that mean “old” or “surrounded by loud students,” and write an email to a Craigslist landlord that actually gets a response. I scribbled a rental application in my car and beat out 20 other people to rent my last apartment, which had a huge kitchen at a great price. I feel like my apartment-hunting game is pretty good.

All that is out the window in Hanoi, Vietnam. My boyfriend Allen and I made the move here in February. We love the city, but it’s definitely different from home. After staying in short-term homestays, finding a space of our own quickly became a priority.

Da Lat might be the opposite of what you imagine when you picture Vietnam. The trees are pines, not palms. There's no sticky, oppressive tropical heat. The air is crisp, fresh, and wonderful. It feels like you've somehow stepped into the French Alps (if you replace skiing with motorbiking).

The mountainous city of Da Lat is Vietnam's agricultural center. Its year-round temperate climate has earned it the nickname of "the City of Eternal Spring," and for good reason. In covered hillside poly-tunnels and lush open-air valleys, Da Lat's farmers grow everything from artichokes, coffee, and strawberries to tropical fruit like bananas and passion fruit. Its bell peppers, flowers, and preserves are sold around the entire country. Tourists take home Da Lat's harvest by the taped-up boxful.

Traditional deviled eggs get a fun and delicious twist with the addition of spicy Korean kimchi. This dish is just the thing to shake you out of your summer is almost over blues and make you thrilled you signed up to bring the deviled egg tray to your next backyard party.